25th Dec 2007
under the table
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I wanted to put up a small taste of flava over the holidays, seeing that I only update FF every week or so. We just got back from the Dominican Republic, 4 days of adventure with some cool clients! Today, we are with my family for some needed time off and I found an image to share with FF readers!
I pulled and old trick out of my bag a few weeks ago (dec 8, 2 days after my wedding)! I will occasionally put a flash or two under the table to light the reception table settings in a unique way, so that my clients will get to visualize their hard work and table setup, in a TOTALLY different way than brightly lit!
At this wedding, I was swimming in ambiance, the stuff was just everywhere. The wedding designer put special attention to lighting elements that would give the entire setting a mood to give the place the feeling as if it were in an outdoor ballroom, especially with the overhead lights. These were pretty powerful lights too, at 40 watts or so. I decided after several combinations that I wanted to turn them down, so I underexposed the background and added a single speedlight under the head table.
I could have exposed the background more, which i did in trial and error, but the moodiest image I could come away with had the pool’s reflection only showcasing the table and the overhead lights, along with the rope lighting on the trees…
slave speedlight set to 1/4 power
My point with this post is to showcase the many ways to change a setup with an added speedlight. Next time, I’ll use 4 speedlights in this situation, who knows…maybe add a little color!
And here is my straight ambient shot…I took this image within seconds of the above example.
Any thoughts or other examples on under table lighting? If you have one, please share it in the Flash Flavor Flickr image pool. Or drop us a comment here and show us 
por favor!
Cheers & merry Christmas,
mateo
I love this bright idea!!… I was there with Matt shooting this wedding, we were exhausted and to be honest not so excited to be there working instead of enjoying the “after wedding” with our friends, (we got married 2 days before this one)…
Anyway, Matt had the energy to create a different shot, adding flavor under the table was a beautiful way to make a cool photo.., don’t you agree??…
Perfectly done amor!!
I do love the under the table flash! I’ve never tried it, but I’m definitely going to the next time I get the chance. When you say you’d like to use 4 speedlights, do you mean under 4 diff tables? I really feel for you guys, having to work right after your own wedding! I hope you have a blessed and RELAXING Christmas!
All the best!
~Zekeshem
Super cool as always. Merry Christmas!
Zekeshem,
Yep, I was meaning to say 4 different tables, but you were right on it!
Cheers!
Matt
I’ve been following your blog for a while now, and you helped me start my own. I just posted a 3-part guide on getting maximum bang for your buck shooting a wedding.
Take a look!
That setup was AWESOME! The mood that it created just knocks your socks off. I must add though- I think that the image is super strong because you kept the reflections from the pool as part of your composition.